


In the Meantime

by wolfish_willow



Category: Power Rangers (2017), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Homesickness, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, Or the Future, POV Steve Harrington, Post-Power Rangers (2017), Post-Season/Series 03, Steve Harrington-centric, Stuck in another dimension, he's not sure which it is, trying to get used to the weirdness of Jason looking like Hargrove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:15:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfish_willow/pseuds/wolfish_willow
Summary: "You ever," Steve twisted his fingers in the grass at his sides, "think about running away?""I used to."
Relationships: Steve Harrington & Jason Lee Scott
Comments: 10
Kudos: 9





	In the Meantime

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Crossover month event over on the Fanfiction subreddit. I listed the fandoms I write for and someone commented with "Stranger Things and Power Rangers 2017" (because, yeah, apparently I'm writing for that fandom now haha)
> 
> Honestly didn't expect to come up with anything (I didn't the last time I tried it out). But part of their conversation hit me fully formed at work yesterday and I had to write it down. Knocked the whole thing out last night and just edited it. Not beta'd. Feel free to point out any typos I've missed. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Crickets chirped as the sun set, painting the sky in shades of pink and orange. The wind rustled through the trees. There was a hint of salt in the air and Steve wondered if Jason, if any of them, noticed it since they lived here. He had never seen the ocean before he found himself in this future—dimension—wherever _here_ was. Whenever he made it back to his time—dimension— _Hawkins_ , Steve already knew what he was going to do. 

The kids would kill for a road trip, and he would bet most of them had never seen the ocean, either. If he got Nancy and Jonathan to vouch for him—maybe come along—Steve was sure they could get permission from the parents to take the Party for a mini-vacation. Mrs. Byers would probably shove Jonathan out the door if she thought he could get a little bit of fun in before leaving for college. 

"Not so bad here, is it?"

Steve hummed. The ground was cool underneath him. He watched the sky darken, catching the night's first twinkling star and shook his head. It wasn't the same as Hawkins, but he thought that might make it better. If he could be here and have his family back at the same time, he might want to stick around. Unfortunately, he couldn't have one and keep the other. Family would win out every time. 

Still, Angel Grove wasn't the worst place to be stuck while they figured out how to get him home.

"No. I mean, except for the aliens. And giant monsters made out of gold. That's just _crazy_."

Jason scoffed and Steve got that chill up his spine. They couldn't have been more different, but Jason still sounded like Hargrove. Steve dug his fingers into the dirt and grass around him, keeping his breathing even to calm his racing heart. A week wasn't long enough to erase reactions he'd had over a year to develop. Still, it was taking less and less time to remind himself that Hargrove was dead. That this person only _looked_ like him. 

Billy Hargrove would have made for one shitty Red Ranger.

"At least we don't have portals to other worlds popping up all over."

It was Steve's turn to scoff. He tore his gaze from the sky. The outline of Jason's profile was only just visible in the moonlight.

"No, you've just got a spaceship and a fucking _robot_ hidden in a rock quarry."

Jason laughed and Steve swallowed, chest going tight. He wondered if he would be here long enough that hearing it didn't remind him of the way Hargrove sounded before nearly killing him.

"Don't forget about Zordon in the wall."

"Believe me, I couldn't if I _tried_." When Steve made it back home and told everyone where he'd been, Dustin was going to be so mad he missed all of this. If he hadn't shoved the kid out of the way in time and Dustin had ended up here with Steve, well. He wasn't sure he would have been able to get Dustin to _leave_ whenever the chance finally came. "And I didn't just come from nowhere, you know."

Jason turned and met his eyes. Or Steve assumed he did; they should probably head back soon. He didn't particularly want to. Not yet. Despite the smell of the ocean and the trees not being the same type, or nearly as thick as back home, this spot reminded him of Hawkins more than anywhere else they'd been since he got here.

"What?"

"You've had at least _one_ portal to another world pop up here."

"Shit," Jason said with a sigh. He lifted his head only to drop it back against the dirt. "You win."

Steve snorted, looking back up at the now star-filled sky. "Nah. At least the government wasn't involved in any of your crazy."

"Just the aftermath."

They weren't around now, though. Another point in Angel Grove's favor. None of the Rangers had seemed worried about government interference when Steve was thrown into their orbit. That was almost harder to acclimate to than Jason's appearance. Steve couldn't remember a time when he wasn't constantly looking over his shoulder—figuratively _and_ literally. It had only gotten worse since giving the Russians Dustin's name. 

"You ever," Steve twisted his fingers in the grass at his sides, "think about running away?"

"I used to." Jason laughed. Steve's heart sped up, but the hairs on the back of his neck didn't rise. Progress. "Got into the dumbest pissing contest about it with Kimberly before"—there was movement out of the corner of Steve's eye. He realized it was Jason waving his arm in the air between them, and he hoped the darkness covered the way he flinched—"everything happened. Kind of _right_ before, actually."

Steve swallowed. He focused on the strand of grass he pulled out of the ground. Bringing it up to his chest, he tied it into a knot. Then another. "And since then?" he asked.

He heard Jason hum, then the shuffling of his body as he rolled onto his side. Steve didn't copy him, but he did turn his head to look at Jason as well as he could.

"Maybe right after. It was a lot, you know? And if Billy had..."

Over the last week, Steve had gotten most of the story of how they first _became_ Power Rangers. The only thing they all hesitated to explain was whatever had happened to Billy—their Billy—to bring them together for good. He was alive and well—a little weird, maybe, though no weirder than Dustin with his radio and whatever else he was focused on that week. But Steve, who hadn't told anyone that sometimes the smell of chlorine from the pool outside kept him up at night, understood the need to hold some things back.

Jason cleared his throat before continuing, "But, no. Not anymore." 

"Yeah." How many times had Steve seriously considered moving? Taking his dad up on bribing his way into a school as far from Hawkins as he could get? Or hell, just getting into his car and driving until he was out of gas. 

Then he thought about Dustin's excited grins and Robin's mostly teasing jabs. About Jonathan and his family and how they always seemed caught up in everything, and how where Jonathan was, Nancy was never far behind. About the rest of the Party and their dumb game that was actually kind of fun, even if he would never admit it where they could hear. "Me, either."

He didn't know how long they listened to the crickets and the wind before the ground became uncomfortably cold. Jason sat up, the light from his _phone_ making him visible for the first time since the sun went down. It was easier to stop comparing him to Hargrove when Steve could see all the differences—his short hair and clean-shaven face. The softness in his smile.

"Ready to get out of here?"

Steve knew that Jason meant to get out of the quarry and head back to town. Maybe meet up with the rest of his friends now that he'd given Steve the chance to get _away_ for a little while. But it was with the memory of Hawkins in mind that Steve nodded. He sat up, brushing the torn bits of grass off of his shirt. 

"Yeah," he said, shoving thoughts of _home_ away. Even if it took some time, he knew he'd get back there again. If the Power Rangers couldn't find a way to send him home, Steve was sure Dustin and the rest of them were doing everything they could on their end. 

And Angel Grove wasn't a terrible place to wait in the meantime.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much appreciated <3


End file.
